Gaels

The Gaels are an ethnolinguistic group native to Ireland, Scotland, and the Isle of Man in the British Isles. The Gaels originated in Ireland, and they migrated to Scotland following the establish of the kingdom of Dal Riata in the 5th century AD, rivalling the native Celtic Picts for power. During the Middle Ages, the Gaelic culture became the dominant culture in Scotland and the Isle of Man as the native Pictish and Manx cultures were assimilated, and, during the Viking invasions of England, several Norse Vikings settled in Orkney, the Hebrides, the Isle of Man, and coastal regions of Scotland and Ireland, where the Gallgoidel ("Norse-Gaels") emerged as a dual culture. In the 9th century, the Gaels and Picts united to form the Kingdom of Scotland, while Ireland's various warring Gaelic kingdoms were ruled over by a supreme High King. In the 12th century, the Normans of England invaded Ireland and pushed the Gaels back into the western parts of the country, while parts of Scotland became Normanized under King David I of Scotland due to the immigration of Norman and Anglo-Norman knights; Scotland came to found burghs and monasteries and introduce Norman feudalism. In the early 17th century, the Tudor conquest of Ireland resulted in the subjugation of the last Gaelic kingdoms in Ireland and the start of large-scale Protestant English, Welsh, and Scottish settlement in Ireland, and King James I of England (also King James VI of Scotland) attempted to wipe out Gaelic culture in both Scotland and Ireland through repressive laws). English soon became the dominant language in both Scotland and Ireland, and Gaelic survived as the dominant language only in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland and the Gaeltacht (pockets of Gaelic culture along the coast of western Ireland). While the Gaelic language is no longer the vernacular in Scotland, the Isle of Man, and most of Ireland, Gaelic customs such as the wearing of belted plaid and kilts, the playing of bagpipes, and cultural practices such as music, dance, festivals, and sports continue to be popular.